Author: Dirk Hagemann
Difficulty: medium

Arpeggios

The word Arpeggio means "broken chord". Because if you play an Arpeggio, you don´t strum all strings when you play a chord, you pick each one individually. One note after the other. Advanced Arpeggios are like "Sweep-picking", a technique used by many fast Heavy Metal guitar players. But we start with more simple Arpeggios.

Lets start with the C-Major chord like shown below.

For the Arpeggio hold the chord the whole time and then start to pick each note (include the emtpy strings too!). Play every note, use the picking hand in a smooth movement, in single up- or down-strokes. Start with downstrokes (d or v), then use upstrokes (d or ^).

 Listen to a Midi of the C-Major Arpeggio

Now, lets play a 2 chord arpeggio using C and D chords.

 Listen to a Midi of the C- and D-Major Arpeggio 

In the "Blues Licks & Exercises"-section we have several Arpeggios so you can practice this technique until you can play it smooth and fast. But don´t rush, start slow at first and keep attention to your up- and downstrokes while you play your Arpeggios!

Try playing some arpeggios using various chords. It is important to use downstrokes and upstrokes properly to get the right effect.

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